18th Century Roman School. Animated Landscape And Capriccio Of The Roman Campagna At Tivoli

Roman school of the 18th century. Animated landscape and capriccio of the Roman countryside at Tivoli.

Relined canvas of 60 cm by 39.5 cm.
Frame of 71 cm by 51 cm.

The artist, certainly a Flemish painter active in Rome in the 18th century, offers us the famous site of Tivoli with the round temple of Vesta by adding an architectural whim since the sublime fountain in the foreground is not an architectural vestige of the site but the fontana del Tritone located in Rome. This splendid Triton fountain, a masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, was built between the end of 1642 and the first half of 1643, on behalf of Pope Urban VIII Barberini who wanted a "public ornament of the city", but also a public utility service, to be placed in the center of the square dominated by his family's new palace.
 
The historic site of Tivoli

Thirty kilometers east of Rome, on the first foothills of the Apennines, is the city of Tivoli. A river runs through it, sometimes called the Anio, the Aniene, or the Teverone, which falls in a waterfall one hundred and fifteen meters high to the north of the city. Its most important ancient monuments are those of the acropolis, made up of two temples built around the 2nd century BC. The oldest, with a quadrangular plan, is an Ionic temple. It is dated between the middle of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 1st century BC. The round temple, which we see in our painting, is dated to the 1st century BC, it rises on a high cylindrical podium. Known for several centuries under the name of the temple of the Sibyl or of Vesta, the round temple of Tivoli has become one of the most famous Western monuments of the modern era.